That’s what the urologist said anyways.

Neil was in for his procedure today…leaving the pre-op room for the OR by about 1220…he was originally scheduled for 1330 but the outpatient surgical center called yesterday and offered him 1200 instead so he took it.

By 1330 he was back in the recovery room waking up from the anesthesia…and it turned out that the ureter from his kidney to the bladder was too small for the scope…so Dr. Stewart put a stent in the ureter to expand it and he’ll go back in a week to try again. It will probably be next Tuesday as that is his normal surgery day but we’ll know more when we talk to his office and/or the surgery center tomorrow.

There’s no pain this evening…just some generalized soreness and the urge to pee a lot but that’s a side effect of the stent. Light duty for a couple of days, no booze for 24 hours, then normal activity for whatever he feels like doing but no hiking or strenuous activity for this week.

We lazed around the rest of the afternoon, had some leftover chicken and cous-cous with goodies for dinner, and will laze around until bedtime.

Regarding the shootings in El Paso and Dayton last weekend…how come the media and liberals are all up to blaming the one in El Paso on racism, white nationalism, and the President while calling it an act of domestic terrorism…while simultaneously ignoring the fact that the guy in Dayton is a leftist with many tweets and facebook posts espousing the socialism agenda. The problem…for the media…is that telling people about the latter doesn’t fit their agenda…luckily there are a few news sources that report actual facts and not sensationalist rhetoric that should be left to the opinion page rather than the news page. Cory Booker…he even said on CNN over the weekend that “this is Trump’s fault” which clearly the fault lies with the shooters. 

There have been too many mass shootings…but the reasons are not as simplistic as white nationalism, racism, and the lack of effective gun control. Clearly gun control doesn’t work…as Chicago which has the most stringent gun laws in the nation…had 72 shootings with 13 dead over the weekend…so obviously having laws against law abiding citizens upholding their constitutional rights doesn’t really stop gun violence.

I could see some utility in better background checks and making sure that those convicted of domestic violence being not allowed to own guns…but that still wouldn’t prevent them from owning them illegally…and for those who believe that if you don’t like the 2nd amendment there is a process for changing it that seems like a slippery slope…it will be those convicted of domestic violence this week but next year it will be all felons even though they can’t own guns either…and then it will be misdemeanors and then it will be more than 3 traffic tickets. Anti gun folks don’t want to try and overturn the 2nd amendment because they realize that will never happen…so they want to play the long game and nibble around the edges. I can see both sides of the slippery slope argument…but given the fact that anti gun people have admitted to playing the long game…maybe the old adage “give them an inch and they’ll take a mile”…might be relevant.

Like Thomas Jefferson…at least I think it was him but if not it was some early American patriot in his time period…and I am paraphrasing since I couldna find the quote I saw earlier today again…”by the time the people realize they need the 2nd amendment I hope that it hasn’t been abolished”.

Another Jefferson quote…”Laws that forbid the carrying of arms disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.”

George Mason, speaking to the Virginia Constitutional Ratifying Convention…”I ask who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people, except a few public officers.”

Another bit of fake news…according to the Gun Violence Archive tally…there have been 251 mass shootings this year, more than one per day. According to more reasonable statistics…there have been 21, with a mass shooting being defined as more than 4 people shot besides the shooter. Don’t know what those loons at the Gun Violence Archive are counting…but it’s pretty clear from their name that they’re one of those anti gun groups that think the 2nd amendment is optional.

And Mark Kelly…he of being married to Gabbie Gifford, the congresswoman who survived a head shooting in Arizona…he says he has “way more guns than the average Arizonian and I’m not giving them up”.

Sorry…no fun stuff since the last post so just a couple of interesting things found on the net.